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Dr. Hildreth is the Regents Distinguished Professor of Public Finance at Wichita State University, with joint tenured appointments on the faculty of public administration in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the finance faculty of the W. Frank Barton School of Business. Additionally, Bart serves as Director of the Kansas Public Finance Center.

In August 2007, Dr. Hildreth was appointed Interim Dean of the W. Frank Barton School of Business.

His earlier tenured faculty positions were in the business schools at Louisiana State University (1985-1994) and Kent State University (1979-1985). He was Director of Finance for Akron, Ohio in 1984-1985, while on a leave of absence from his duties as associate professor of finance and public administration at Kent State University.

Dr. Hildreth specializes in municipal securities. Since 1989 he has been the editor-in-chief of the Municipal Finance Journal (a quarterly specializing in the financing of state and local governments and municipal securities). He authors the State & Local Government Debt Issuance and Management Service (an update service by Sheshunoff Information Services). He was the principal author of the State of Kansas 2005 Debt Affordability Report, the first comprehensive study of the state's debt, and the companion study on local government debt affordability. Dr. Hildreth was the only academician on the small task force of industry leaders charged with rewriting the last two versions of the industry standard Disclosure Guidelines for State and Local Government Securities. As Akron's chief financial officer he restructured the financing of a defaulted enterprise operation. In 1997, the Governor appointed, and the state Senate confirmed, Dr. Hildreth to the board of directors of the Kansas Development Finance Authority, the largest municipal bond issuer in the state. He was reappointed in 2000 to serve until 2003. He also served on the Wichita Public Building Commission. Moreover, his work on infrastructure financing has gained research and lecture tour support in Canada from the Canadian Embassy and the Government of Quebec, for presentations in China from the National Committee on United States-China Relations and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In fall 2005, Dr. Hildreth was a Fulbright scholar as the Fulbright-McGill Visiting Research Chair of Public Policy at McGill University in Montreal.  Currently, Dr. Hildreth is completing a study of the capital market practices of the Ontario Ministry of Finance, the largest non-sovereign government borrower in North America.  He has been admitted as an expert witness on municipal securities and the municipal bond markets by the U.S. Federal court system and the National Association of Securities Dealers.

He has authored many articles and book chapters, and he has co-edited over 15 books. His work has been published in the National Tax Journal, State Tax Notes, Government Finance Review, Public Budgeting & Finance, Proceedings of the National Tax Association, Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration, Public Administration Quarterly, International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Public Budgeting and Financial Management, Canadian Foreign Policy, Policy Options/Politiques, and Public Productivity Review, among others. His co-authored and co-edited books include: Handbook on Taxation; Financial Management Theory in the Public Sector; Budget Theory in the Public Sector; Performance-Based Budgeting; Case Studies in Public Budgeting and Financial Management, State and Local Government Budgeting Practices Handbook (an update service), State and Local Government Public/Private Partnerships (an update service); State and Local Government Budgeting Practices Handbook (an update service), Handbook of Strategic Management, Handbook of Public Administration, Budget Management, Public Budgeting Laboratory, and Budgeting. He also serves as the book review editor of the International Journal of Public Administration and on the editorial board of several academic journals including Public Budgeting & Finance.

A specialist in tax policy, Professor Hildreth's work includes serving as chair of the (Kansas) Governor’s Tax Review Committee in 1998, and the only academic member of the Governor's Tax Equity Task Force in 1995. In 1995, he directed the comprehensive tax reform study of Kansas, and more recently served on the sales tax simplification task force. Additionally, he has contributed to tax reform studies in Louisiana and Alabama. He is the lead editor of the Handbook on Taxation, published in 1999 by Marcel Dekker, Inc., that includes original contributions by many of the nation’s top tax experts. He serves on the planning committee for the annual Wichita Program on Appraisal for Ad Valorem Taxation of Communications, Energy, and Transportation Properties, and has presented research on the tax impacts of electric restructuring to state and local public officials, the National Tax Association’s annual conference, and at national workshops sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Public Utilities Reports. He has served as a member of the board of directors of the National Tax Association.  His work on fundamental federal tax reform was featured on a live, state-wide, television broadcast in a panel session with Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute and Grover Norquist.  His research on fiscal federalism was recently supported by the Italian Institute of Economics and Finance.

Professor Hildreth's research and service in the field of public budgeting and financial management is extensive. He was a member of the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s Financial Reporting Model Task Force (Statement No 34), and the Governmental Accounting Standards Advising Council (GASAC) which is the official advisory body to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. He has served as chair of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, a section of the American Society for Public Administration, and academic advisor to committees of the Government Finance Officers Association, including service on the first Council on Certification for the Certified Public Finance Officer Program.

Bart received the 1995 Donato J. Pugliese Award from the Southeastern Conference for Public Administration for contributions to the field. He received the Loman Insurance Foundation Fellowship in 1981 for his research in public risk management. He received the WSU Excellence in Research Award in 2003. He has been listed in Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Who's Who of Emerging Leaders in America, and other publications.

An active consultant, his clients have included business and employee groups, state and local governments, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and professional associations. Bart has served as an advisor or expert on municipal securities and debt financing for issuers, business groups, attorneys, and media outlets.

He is a frequent speaker at national and regional professional conferences and workshops, and directs the yearly midwest regional public finance conference in Wichita.

Dr. Hildreth received his Doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Georgia (1979), Masters in Public Administration from Auburn University (1974), and Bachelors of Arts degree in political science from the University of Alabama (1971).